"U.S. didn't know our citizens were at site they attacked"

"U.S. didn't know our citizens were at site they attacked"

“With the help of the CIA and their cooperation with the FBI, we found out locations where our people were on several occasions. However, it seems that they have changed the place where they kept them at the last moment,” he said.

The two Serbian embassy staffers, Sladjana Stankovic and Jovica Stepic, were killed in a U.S. airstrike in Sabratha, Libya.

They were kidnapped there in November 2015 from the diplomatic convoy.

Thorough probe and concrete answer

The victims and the state deserve a more concrete answer concerning the tragedy that happened in Libya, Veljko Odalovic, secretary general at the Serbian foreign ministry, said on Sunday, expressing expectation that the U.S. would provide such an answer to Serbia.

Commenting on the Pentagon's statement that “there were no indications of any civilians present” in the camp in Libya and that the circumstances of the deaths of the two Serbian hostages “remain unclear”, Odalovic told RTS he believed that those who had chosen the target and decided to launch airstrikes on it, would clarify all the circumstances.

“This is something that the prime minister asked for in public on Saturday and I expect the U.S. will provide such an answer to us,” Odalovic told RTS.

The foreign ministry has set up a commission that will start establishing the circumstances preceding the kidnapping of the two Serbians in Libya and possible omissions that might have led to that, Veljko Odalovic said on Saturday.

The Serbian ambassador was present during the identification of the bodies of the Serbian embassy staffers, and we expect all the technicalities to be finished on Sunday, so that on Monday the bodies could be transferred to Serbia, Odalovic told N1 broadcaster.

Odalovic said that autopsies would be done at the Military Medical Academy (VMA) in Belgrade to find out all the circumstances of their deaths and provide the families with as much information as possible.

"Unclear"

Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook stated on Sunday the circumstances of the deaths of two Serbian hostages in Libya remained “unclear”.

“We have seen reports that two Serbian hostages have been killed in Libya. At this time, we have no information indicating that their deaths were a result of the strike that U.S. Forces conducted against an ISIL senior leader and ISIL training camp in Libya. Our forces watched this training camp for weeks leading up to the operation, and at the time of the strike there were no indications of any civilians present,” Cook said in a statement published on the Pentagon website.

“While the circumstances of their deaths remain unclear, we, nevertheless, express our deepest condolences to the Serbian government and the families of those killed. We will share whatever information we can with the Serbian government,” Cook said.